Chained article separating and delivering means for sewing machines



March 29, 1955 RQSENBLOQM 2,704,988

CHAINED ARTICLE SEPARATING AND DELIVERING MEANS FOR SEWING MACHINES I Filed March 12, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l I mi 1- 1 NV EN TOR 460 )POSE/YBAOO/V,

ATTORNEXS March 29, 1955 L. ROSENBLOOM CHAINED ARTICLE SEPARATING AND DELIVERING MEANS FOR SEWING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 12, 1951 INVENTOR ATTORNEY- United States Patent CHAINED ARTICLE SEPARATING AND DELIVER- ING MEANS FOR SEWING MACHINES Leon Rosenbloom, Baltimore, Md., assignor to S. Rosenbloom, Inc., Baltimore, Md., a corporation of Maryland Application March 12, 1951, Serial No. 215,091

Claims. (Cl. 112-252) This invention relates to chained article separating and delivering devices for sewing machines and aims generally to improve the same.

Particular objects of the invention, severally and interdependently, are to provide an improved arrangement in which the chained threads extending between chained articles are positively presented to a severing device; an improved combination of severing device and article ejector means; an article ejector combination peculiarly cooperative with chained articles and separating means therefor to effect a stored-power ejection of the articles; an improved ejecting means for severed chained articles for delivering them to a discharge bin or tote box at a convenient table height elevation, and to provide improved and novel elements and sub-combinations contributing to the realization of one or more of the foregoing objects.

The invention resides in the novel features and combinations herein disclosed by example and is particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings of illustrative embodiments of the invention;

Fig. l is a somewhat diagrammatic plan view of one embodiment of clipping mechanism, particularly adapted for attachment to a Union Special Edge Lock 2-needle chain lock stitch machine, No. 43800-7, known as the U. S. Twin Stitch 401 with hem folder.

Fig. 2 is a somewhat diagrammatic sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, and illustrating in dotted lines one location of the cooperating ejector means.

Figs. 3 and 4 are somewhat diagrammatic plan and elevational views of a preferred form of cooperating ejector.

Fig. 5 is a somewhat diagrammatic plan view of another embodiment of clipping mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a side elevation thereof.

Fig. 7 is a detail of a suitable clipper-bar assembly.

In the stitching of chained articles, as the patch pockets for overalls, for example, it is conventional to employ a sewing machine having the usual presser foot overlying a toothed reciprocating work feeder and having two needles for simultaneously stitching a hem, for example, at the top edge of the patch pockets. In such machines the patches are usually fed to the needles by hand through a hem folder of conventional design and the two rows of stitches are simultaneously formed, the sewed pieces coming out of the machine chained together by the stitching, there being a space of about /1 of an inch between adjacent articles in the chain. In conventional practice the chain of articles piles up on the floor behind the sewing machine and thereafter the linking stitches are cut manually by scissors, this operation tak- 1ng nearly as long as the stitching operation itself.

Various efforts have been made in the past to avoid the need for manually separating the chained together articles after the stitching operation, but such efforts have not been very successful. In addition to the fact that proposed severing devices have been unreliable in operation, such devices have in certain instances either scattered the separated patches on the floor, or delivered them to a receptacle placed on the floor, making the removal of the severed articles inconvenient and fatiguing.

As shown in Figs. 1-4 of the accompanying drawings, the present invention overcomes these difiiculties by placing directly behind the presser foot 10 (Fig. 2) of the sewing machine a stationary upstanding clipper means 1112 of the toothed cutter bar type shown in more detail in Fig. 7. The stationary cutting bar 11 of this clipper means extends a predetermined distance, say 75 of an inch, above the level of the work bed under the presser foot 10. The companion movable toothed cutter bar 12, having teeth slightly lower than those of the stationary bar (see Figs. 2 and 7), is supported loosely behind the stationary bar 11 (see Fig. 1) and pressed against it by a spring 13 secured to the machine base 14. As is clearly shown in Fig. 1, the loose securement may be effected by mounting the cutter bar 12 snugly but not bindingly on a pair of pins 15, in a relatively wide slot 16 of a cam plate 17 so that it may be pressed flat against the cutting bar 11 by spring 13, but will reciprocate as a unit with the cam plate 17. The movable cutter bar is laterally reciprocated by means comprising in the form shown a cam roller 18 operating in an angle slot 19 in the cam plate 17. The cam roller 18 is carried by a slide 20 which is moved fore and aft by a link 21 connecting it to the rocker arm that drives the work feeder 22 of the conventional sewing machine.

In the illustrated embodiment of Figs. 14 the cam slot in the drive plate 14 for the movable cutter bar 12 is arranged at approximately a 45 angle, and the link 21 comprises a ball and socket joint 23 and an adjusting turnbuckle 24 to facilitate the installation.

In the delivery channel or way 30 of the machine, behind the cutting attachment 11--12, there is provided a work ejector 31, indicated in Fig. 2 and shown in more detail in Figs. 3 and 4. This work ejector 31 comprises, in the form shown, a conical rubber roller 32 having its smaller end more proximate to the inner wall 33 of the work delivery channel. This roller is carried in bearing arms 34, the bearings of which are inclined to the horizontal, and the bearing arms and conical roller are spring pressed toward the work plane, in the form shown by being mounted on a swinging arm 34 urged downwardly toward the floor of the work delivery channel as by spring means 36.

The ejector assembly is mounted on a stationary part of the sewing machine, as by a suitable bracket 37, and the conical roller 32 is driven in the bearing arm 34 by a flexible shaft 38, like a speedometer shaft, which extends from the roller 32 to a position under the work table of the machine where it carries a pulley 39 that bears against the drive belt 40 of the sewing machine. The conical shape and inclination of the roller together with the inherent resiliency or power storing capacity of the flexible drive means for the roller causes the roller 32 to manipulate and discharge the chained and severed work pieces in an advantageous manner as is hereinafter described.

The arrangement shown in Figs. 57 is substantially the same in principal as that shown in Figs. l-4, and the corresponding parts are similarly numbered, but with prime marks for ease of reference. In this embodiment, however, the spring 13 bears against a slide plate 1311 (Fig. 5) which has an upstanding wall 13b that presses against the movable cutter bar 12, and the assembly is otherwise located entirely below the level of the sewing machine bed.

Also in this second embodiment, as shown in Fig. 6, the ejector 31' is located considerably closer to the cutter bars 11-12' than in the first embodiment, as is desirable when smaller chained articles are being formed. In addition, in this form, to insure that the smaller chained articles riding up over the cutter bar 11 are drawn under the ejector 31, a guide plate 43 is provided above the cutter bars 11'12', being supported from the machine frame in any suitable manner, as by a bracket arm 44'. The chained articles riding over the cutter bar 11 strike the guide plate 43' and are guided by it into engagement under the ejector.

Finally, as shown in Fig. 5, the adjusting means for the slide 20', in this embodiment, is in the form of a slot and lock bolt element 45', pivoted at 46' to a connecting crank 47' secured to the axle 48 of the sewing machine rocker arm that drives the work feeding mechanism 22'.

In the operation of the disclosed arrangement (see Figs. 2 and 6), the work piece fed under the presser foot 10 slides on top of the tips of the stationary cutter bar 11. At each feeding step of the work feeder 22, the movable cutter bar 12 reciprocates one tooth-width in each direction giving two cutting motions, but when the body of a work piece overlies the cutter tips there 1s no engagement of any part of the work with the cutting edges of the bars 11-12.

As a work piece reaches the ejector 31, it 1s pulled tight across the cutter and the flexible shaft or power storing means 38 of the roller drive is somewhat tensioned. Thus when the three-quarter inch, more or less, span of chain stitching linking two work pieces reaches the cutters 11--12 the tension exerted on the leading article positively draws the spanning stitches down between the cutter teeth and holds them taut therein so that they are positively severed by reciprocation of the cutter 12. The severing of the spanning stitches releases the leading or completely stitched article and releases the tension of the power storing means 38 and the rubber roller 32 therefore snaps around and flips or projects the completed article out through the end of the delivery channel 30 into an article receiving bin or tote box 42 (see Fig. 6) placed substantially at machine top level behind and slightly laterally of the machine. As the release of tension of the power storing means 38 imparts a definite snap or throw to the finished article being projected, this article is flipped or projected well to the rear of the receiving bin and there is no tendency for articles to pile up behind the ejecting roller 31 and obstruct free passage of articles therefrom. Following the ejection of a leading article, the succeeding article of the chain passing from the work feeder of the machine slides up over the tips of the stationary cutter bar 11 without any cutting engagement of the cutting edges therewith and becomes tensioned in its turn by the ejecting means 31 so that the next span of chaining stitches will be positively drawn into the cutter in its turn. This same mode of operation is achieved by the correspondingly numbered elements in the form of Figs. and 6. The operation of the elements peculiar to the latter form has been set forth above.

From the foregoing description it will be appreciated that the details of elements of the new combinations may be modified within the broader aspects of the invention, and it is to be understood that the exemplary embodiments herein described are illustrative and not restrictive of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims, and that all modifications which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intended to be included therein.

I claim:

1. A chained article separating attachment for sewing machines of the type comprising a reciprocating work feeder, a presser foot, stitching means associated therewith, and a delivery way therebehind; said attachment comprising an article ejector means associated with said way, a resilient drive for said ejector means, said resilient drive tending to drive said ejector means at a free speed somewhat higher than the speed at which the work is fed by the work feeder and thus storing power when said ejector means is in contact with chained work being fed by the work feeder, thread cutting means within said delivery way in advance of said ejector means, said ejector means serving to draw article chaining stitches positively into engagement with said cutting means, and said ejector means with its resilient drive serving to throw severed articles forcibly out of said delivery way when the chained stitches are severed by said cutting means, and in which said ejector means comprises a conical rubber-like roller having its axis inclined to the plane of the article supporting wall of said delivery way.

2. The combination, with a chained article sewing machine of the type having needle-means, presser foot means, a delivery way behind said presser foot means, and reciprocating work-feeding means that intermittently moves the work under said presser foot and into said delivery way, of a take-away roller located rearwardly of and in spaced relation to said presser foot, said takeaway roller pressing the work pieces against a surface of said delivery way and frictionally engaging the same for sliding them over said surface, a stationary toothed cutter bar and an associated reciprocable toothed cutter bar both having the teeth thereof projecting across the plane extending from said presser foot to said take-away roller, said cutter teeth thus being positioned to enter the spaces between a chain of sewn articles extending from said presser foot to said take-away roller to clip the chaining stitches in said spaces, the teeth of said stationary toothed cutter bar being somewhat longer than those of the reciprocable cutter bar and deflecting the articles to hold them out of engagement with the teeth of the reciprocable cutter bar but allowing the chaining stitches in the spaces between the articles to enter the teeth of the cutter bars to be severed thereby, means for reciprocating said reciprocable cutter bar, and means for driving said take-away roller with a surface speed that tends to take away the chained articles at a rate faster than the rate of feeding thereof by the reciprocating work feeding means for pulling on and straightening out the deflected chain of articles when the spaces between them reach said cutter bars.

3 A combination according to claim 2, in which said reciprocable cutter bar is positioned between said stationary cutter bar and said take-away roller.

4. A combination according to claim 2, in which the means for driving said take-away roller comprises a driving element flexible in torque, whereby the speed of the take-away roller may vary to accommodate interrmttent feed of the work by the reciprocating work feeding means.

5. A combination according to claim 2, in which the means for driving the take-away roller comprises torque storing means, which permits the roller to accommodate ltself to intermittent feed of the work and causes the roller to accelerate as soon as the article engaged thereby 1s severed from the chain thus to throw along the delivery way an article severed from the chain by said toothed cutter bars.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 265,313 Foote Oct. 3, 1882 1,831,501 Lutz NOV. 10, 1931 2,131,621 Greicius Sept. 27, 1938 2,378,731 Seaman June 19, 1945 2,426,026 Kehrer Aug. 19, 1947 

